Top of their domestic inbox will be the cost of living crisis, an economy on the brink of recession, threats of Winter blackouts, and public service backlogs that are impacting everything from the delivery of justice to the treatment of cancer. [...] Because while the problems facing the country can in part be explained by the knock-on impacts of the pandemic and geopolitical upheaval, they are also the product of wider flaws in the operation of the State. [...] In 2011, 15.5 per cent of vacancies were the result of skills shortages – employers being unable to fill places due to applicants lacking the skills, experience or qualifications required17 – by 2019 this had risen to 24 per cent.18 Meanwhile, despite successive governments emphasising the importance of further and continuous education to help close these gaps, the number of FE and skills qualific. [...] While much attention has been paid to the roughly 300,000 additional people who have left the labour force due to long-term sickness since the start of the pandemic,22 the number of people reporting that they are economically inactive due to a long-term health condition or illness has hovered around two million for the past 25 years.23 This is a staggering waste of human potential and is costing b. [...] All of these have direct, and significant, impacts both on the quality of people’s lives and the productivity – and therefore prosperity – of the nation.
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